14 January to 7 March 2010

Lord Dalhousie:
Patron and Collector

Organized by the National Gallery of Canada

Curated by René Villeneuve
Associate Curator of Early Canadian Art

Opening Reception Wednesday 13 January at 8 pm

George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, was Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1816 to 1820, then Governor-in-Chief of British North America until he returned to his native Scotland in 1828. This exhibition features 94 works – watercolours, sketches, lithographs, models, architectural drawings and objets d’art – that he commissioned during his tenure in Canada and offers a unique portrait of one of the first patrons of Canadian art. Many of the works in this exhibition are on public display for the first time.

Inspired by his love of art and the preservation of heritage, Lord Dalhousie left a rich artistic legacy composed of a large number of artworks and cultural accomplishments, making him the first true major art patron in Canada. Along with the many extraordinary artworks that he commissioned and collected, he was responsible for a number of major initiatives, including the oldest public monument in Québec City, the first library in Halifax – today the Cambridge Military Library – the Literary and Historical Society of Québec, which is still active, and our home, Dalhousie University, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Canada.

Excursions and journeys were the hallmark of Dalhousie’s approach to governing. While he was in Canada, he sponsored a number of artists who accompanied him on his official visits to the four provinces that formed British North America at that time, and who executed his commissions. Among the most prominent were James Pattison Cockburn, Charles Ramus Forrest, James Smillie, John Crawford Young and John Elliott Woolford. The numerous landscapes painted by these artists, and by others, attest to the importance that the Governor attached to having illustrations to accompany his journal notes. Thus, Lord Dalhousie laid the foundations for the visual memory of a fledgling nation.

During his time as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Lord Dalhousie commissioned John Elliott Woolford to create watercolours and engravings depicting key public buildings, notably Government House, the Province Building and the original 1818 building that housed Dalhousie University. Woolford also recorded numerous views of the Halifax landscape and environs, including York Redoubt and, farther inland, the estate at Mount Uniacke. The Nova Scotia Museum is a major lender of Woolford’s work to the National Gallery for this exhibition with other significant works loaned by Government House, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, and Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections.

Lord Dalhousie: Patron and Collector organizes Lord Dalhousie’s legacy in eight thematic groupings beginning with one which paints a portrait of the man – his career and his cultural and historical interests. Another grouping concentrates on the principal artists whose work Lord Dalhousie collected and with whom he maintained ongoing relationships. Other key sections focus on the subject matter of the commissioned artworks: The Human Landscape, brings together works that depict the villages and towns in the territories under the Governor’s jurisdiction; Projects in Architecture, Engineering, and Urbanism, which presents Lord Dalhousie’s contributions in these areas; Grand Estates, a selection of works portraying estates and their majestic residences in Nova Scotia and Québec that are reminiscent of the Scottish and English estates of the period. Two large groupings are The Spectacle of Nature, which assembles watercolours and washes showing the wealth and diversity of virgin nature and the Other: First Peoples and Canadiens, which displays objets d’art and artworks that testify to Lord Dalhousie’s curiosity and interest in cultures different from his own.

René Villeneuve, Associate Curator of Early Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada, conducted detailed research into Lord Dalhousie’s collection over a six-year period and unearthed previously undiscovered works, including seventeen that now belong to the National Gallery. Affiliated with the National Gallery for more than twenty years, Mr. Villeneuve and has made important scholarly contributions through his exhibitions, books and articles about Canadian art.

The exhibition at Dalhousie Art Gallery is supported by funding from the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia (JSF Fund) in recognition of the importance of primary research to curatorial excellence.

René Villeneuve's curatorial work would not have been possible without the initial work of the late Marjory Whitelaw, a Nova Scotia resident, who made Lord Dalhousie's activities known through her editorial work that resulted in the publication of the diaries kept by George Ramsay while Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and then Governor-in-chief of British North America.